


How it began

by StairwayToZeppelin



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Minor Character Death, based on the show Supernatural, more tags as the story progresses, sister fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:33:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22251133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StairwayToZeppelin/pseuds/StairwayToZeppelin
Summary: Sister fic. Follows the original plot line. Takes place in Season 1 of Supernatural. Dean, his brother Sam, and sister Mill look for their father, who has been missing for several weeks. While on the hunt for their father, they continue to run the family business: Saving people, hunting things.This story is just for fun :)
Relationships: Jessica Moore/Sam Winchester, John Winchester/Mary Winchester, Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Pilot (S1 E1)
> 
> Mary is killed by something. John realises that her death is not normal and vows to find out what killed her.
> 
> I will update it occasionally, but more than anything. it's just for fun :) there are other stories that I am working on actively (not that this isn't active)

**Lawrence, Kansas**

**22 years ago**

It was a warm night for November in Lawrence, Kansas. A big, white house sat on a field of grass. The house belonged to John and Mary Winchester, and their three children: Dean, Millie and baby Sam.

The full moon cast the shadow of the nearby tree onto the side of the house. Suddenly, the shadow of the tree branch seemed to stretch and creep towards the window of baby Sam’s room, but the Winchester's inside of their warm house didn't notice.

A beautiful woman with long, wavy blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes walked into a room carrying her oldest son, Dean, on her hip. The four-year-old was wearing a pair of brown checkered pajamas. Beside Mary was her daughter, Millie. The two-year-old had on her favorite purple night dress. 

"Come on, let's say goodnight to your brother," Mary said as she let go of her daughter's hand so she could turn on the light in her youngest son's room. Mary sat Dean down on the floor and watched as he immediately ran to the crib where Sam was. Mary tried to pick Millie up, but the toddler refused. The little girl was currently in an independent phase, where she wanted to do everything herself.

"I walk," she told her and began to walk over to where her older brother was. Dean, being taller than Millie, could easily get up to lean over the crib.

"Goodnight, Sam," he said and kissed his brother's forehead.

"I can't," Millie whined, her green eyes filling with tears and her bottom lip began to tremble. And just like that, she (momentarily) abandoned the “I’m independent and don’t need any help” phase.

"I'll help you, Millie," Dean offered and tried to pick her up, but Mary quickly intervened.

"Let me do that, sweetheart. I don't want you hurting yourself," the young blonde said and picked her daughter up to hold her over the crib. "Can you say ‘goodnight’ to Sammy, Millie?" Her mother asked her.

"Goodnight, Sammy," Millie repeated and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Good girl," Mary praised her and kissed her cheek. She shifted her daughter to her hip so that she could wish her youngest a goodnight. "Goodnight, love," she whispered to him before she gave him a sweet kiss on his forehead before she straightened up and ran her hand over his head.

Sam looked at his mother with wide baby blue eyes. Mary felt her heart swell with the amount of love she had for him. 

She and John had created absolute perfection with their children.

"Hey, Dean," a gruff voice said from the doorway. Dean turned around to see a tall man with dark hair and dark eyes smiling at him.

The man had at one time been muscular and in shape, but as the years have passed, he had since gained a few pounds that seemed to pile over the muscles. He was wearing an old olive colored USMC t-shirt and a pair of blue sleep pants.

"Daddy!" Dean and Millie yelled excitedly. Dean hopped down from the crib and ran to his father with his green eyes wide.

"Hey, buddy," John said smiling and bend down to pick his first born up. "And look, Millie's here too!" He said, his smile widening. Mary walked over to her husband and handed her their daughter, who had been holding her arms out towards the man ever since she knew he had entered the room. "What do you think? D'you think Sammy's ready to toss around a football yet?" He asked his children.

Dean and his little sister laughed. "No, Daddy," Dean told him and shook his head.

"No," John repeated with a laugh and a roll of his eyes.

"He-he too small, Daddy," Millie told him, as if he didn't already know that.

"Way too small," he agreed and kissed her top of her blonde hair.

"You got 'em?" Mary asked and gently touched Dean's back.

"I got 'em," he assured her and pulled his children tighter against him as his wife left the room.

"Sweet dreams, Sam," John whispered quietly. Sam looked over at his father and made a baby noise, which John interpreted as “goodnight, Daddy! I love you”. The thought made John smile wider, deepening the dimples on his cheeks. He turned around to turn off the light, which was a little difficult with his two children in his arms, before he walked out of the room, leaving the door open. "You ready for bed?" He asked them.

"I'm not tired, Daddy," Dean told his father stubbornly.

"Me either, Daddy," Millie agreed, but the little girl was barely hanging on to consciousness. She was using her father’s broad shoulder as a pillow while her arms hung limply.

Mary had taken their children to the playground earlier while John was at work. Her and Dean had tired themselves out by chasing each other, swinging on the swings and sliding down the slides together for almost two hours before their mother said that it was time to go home.

When they had gotten home, they had fallen asleep almost immediately, and even though Millie had slept for almost two hours, she was still tired. The only reason why she had said that she wasn't, was because Dean said that he wasn't tired. And after all, Millie couldn’t possibly say that she was tired when Dean wasn’t tired.

"Are you two sure? Because Mommy told me all about your exciting day," John told them as he walked into Dean and Millie's room.

"We had so much fun, Daddy! Me an’ Millie slided down the slides a hundred times!" Dean told his father as the tall man sat him down on his bed.

"A hundred times? No way!" John said with a fake gasp.

"Uh-huh! An’ we swinged a-a hunded time mo'!" Millie added as John laid her down in her bed and made sure to put up the gates so that she wouldn't fall out.

"Wow! That many times?" He asked her as he covered her with her pink and purple blanket.

"Yeah!" She confirmed before a big yawn managed to escape her.

"Well, how about you go to sleep and then in the morning you will tell me all about it?" He suggested as he bent down to kiss her forehead.

"Okay, Daddy," she agreed and accepted the pacifier that he gave her. Millie didn’t really use pacifiers, never did, but the only time she’d ever take one was during nap time or when it was time to sleep. It always helped her fall asleep.

"I love you, Millie," he said quietly and gently touched her soft cheek before he turned to his son.

"Daddy, can me an’ Millie go to the playground tomorrow again?" The toddler asked as his father was covering him with his batman blanket.

"You'll have to ask Mommy tomorrow," he told him and kissed his dirty blonde hair.

"Okay,” he agreed before he yawned. “Goodnight, Daddy. I love you," he slurred half asleep.

"Goodnight, buddy. I love you, more," he said and smiled as he looked at his now asleep toddlers. He never thought that he could ever love anyone or anything more than he loved Mary, but the love he had for his children were at times so overwhelming, that it made him want to cry. He was truly blessed.

He gave his toddlers one more glance, before he turned off the light and quietly closed the door before he walked downstairs to watch some TV before he went to bed. There was a documentary about the Vietnam war that he wanted to watch.

Even though he had experienced Vietnam firsthand, he made sure to never miss a single documentary about it. He wasn’t sure why; a part of him believed that it helped him cope with what he saw and experienced, while another part theorised that he was paying his respects to his friends that he lost. Whatever the reason, he made himself comfortable in his recliner and relaxed while he watched the show.

  
  


**... ... ...**

  
  


In Sammy's nursery, the musical mobile above his crib had suddenly begun to play a lazy lullaby tune. Sam looked at it curiously before he lifted both his feet up as if he wanted to reach for it and kick it.

The clock that had pictures of various trucks, cars, trains and airplanes on it in lieu of numbers suddenly stopped ticking, and the moon shaped night light that was giving off a dark yellow light suddenly began to flicker before it turned off completely. Big tears filled Sam’s big baby blue eyes before he started to cry.

Mary heard her baby’s cries through the baby monitor that was on her nightstand next to her bed. She hummed tiredly as was pulled from her dreamless sleep. She turned towards the baby monitor and saw bright red dots across the dull screen, alerting her that Sam really was crying and that it wasn’t just her imagination; not that that mattered. She would often get up in the middle of the night to check on her children, where they woke her up by crying or simply to make sure that they were alright.

She rolled onto her stomach and reached for the lamp on her nightstand, that was next to a picture of her and John, shortly before Millie was conceived. She turned on the light and waited for her eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. "John?" She asked, her soft voice full of sleep. When she didn't hear a reply, she lifted her head and turned to where John would usually be, only to be greeted by nothing. Mary let out a tired and exhausted sigh before she finally managed to get out of the way too comfortable bed. She let out a loud yawn while she walked to Sam's nursery. "John?" She asked when she saw a shadowy figure standing at her son's crib. "Is he hungry?" She asked.

The figure turned its head and held a finger up to its lips. "Sh," it shushed her softly.

"Alright," she replied, glad that she could return to her loving bed and get some much needed sleep. She rubbed her tired eyes and was about to head back to her bed, when a flickering light at the end of the hallway caught her attention. Mary furrowed her brows and debated if she should just ignore it and go back to bed, but she knew that it would keep her up until she fixed it. 

She walked towards the flickering light and tapped the glass several times until it finally stopped flickering. "Mh," she hummed. _ 'It's an older house. Maybe there's something wrong with the wires or the lightbulb needs to be changed,' _ she tried to justify it.  _ ‘There’s nothing to worry about,’  _ she assured herself.

She was about to turn around to go back to bed, when a noise coming from downstairs caught her attention. _ 'Did John forget to turn off the TV?' _ She wondered and walked down the stairs to shut it off herself so that she could  _ finally _ get some sleep. A documentary about the Vietnam war was playing on the TV.  _ 'Typical,'  _ she thought. Her ex-marine husband was always watching something about wars and soldiers, especially anything about the Vietnam war.

She suddenly froze when she saw her husband in his blue rope sleeping peacefully in the recliner with the remote still in his hand. She was suddenly wide awake, her face pale, as terror ran through her. "Oh, my God!" She gasped and immediately turned around and ran up the stairs. "Sammy, Sammy!" She called, and although her voice was still quiet, it was filled with fear and panic as she ran into her youngest son's room. She gasped when she saw the figure before she let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Their mother’s scream woke up Dean and Millie, as well as their father, who let out a panicked gasp. "Mary?" He called, his sleep raddled mind trying to figure out what was happening, but it wasn’t long before the soldier, the protector, in him woke up ready to go. "Mary!" He yelled and ran up the stairs, taking two, three steps at a time until he reached the top and then ran into Sam's room, calling out his wife's name one more time.

He opened the door, not even realising that it had never been closed in the first place and called his wife's name again. He looked around the small room, but saw no one was there except for baby Sam. He let out a relieved sigh, slowly coming down from high adrenaline rush high, and walked over to Sam's crib, still breathing hard from the near heart attack he almost had.

"Hey, Sammy," he greeted his son and pulled the gates of his crib down. Sam looked up at his father and gave him a toothless smile. "You okay?" He asked his son smiling before a look of confusion crossed his face. Next to Sammy's head was a drop of what looked like blood, but that wasn’t possible.

He reached out to touch it and as he did, three more drops of blood dropped onto the back of his hand. He looked at his hand in confusion before he turned around and looked up. A scream of terror left his mouth. He stumbled back and ended up falling to the ground when he saw his wife on the ceiling. Her white nightdress stained red with blood that came from the dash across her stomach.

Mary looked down at her husband. Her mouth open in a silent scream, her arms were spread out, and her leg was at an awkward angle. She being pinned up there, but how was that possible? 

"No! Mary!" He managed to yell before his wife suddenly burst into flames. "No! No, no!" He yelled, his throat raw, but he ignored it. He had to save Mary!

  
  


**... ... ...**

  
  


"Dean?" Millie asked scared when she heard her father yell.

"It's okay, Millie," he assured her as he got out of bed. He walked over to his sister's bed and pulled down the gate that was there to prevent her from falling out of her bed and hurting herself.

"Why Daddy yelled?" She asked her brother.

"I don't know, Millie, but it's alright. Daddy's a soldier and he'll protec’ us," he assured her as he got her out of her bed. "Le's see why Daddy’s yelling," he suggested and took his sister's hand and walked out of the room. He froze, however, when he saw a bright light coming from Sammy's room.

"Dean?" Millie asked scared and began to cry.

"It's okay, Millie. I'll protec’ you," he promised her, but he didn't move from where he was standing.

  
  


**... ... ...**

  
  


John seemed to be in a trance as he watched his wife, the love of his life, the mother of his children, burn on the ceiling. Sam's high pitched crying seemed to break the spell, as he quickly got up and grabbed Sam and ran him out of the room.

"Daddy," Dean said when he saw his father carrying Sam in a blue blanket. He wanted to tell his sister that everything was alright now, but he never got the chance.

"Take your brother outside as fast as you can," he told him as he handed Sam to Dean. Dean let go of Millie's hand so that he could hold his younger brother. "Don't look back!" He ordered before he turned to his daughter. "Go with your brother, Millie," he told her. When neither child moved, John began to fear that the fire would consume them all before they could get out. "Now, Dean! Go!" He yelled, knowing that as soon as Dean would leave, Millie would be right behind him.

Dean began to run towards the stairs with Millie right behind him. The toddler wasn't as fast or even as stable on her feet as Dean was, so she looked back to her father to silently ask him to carry her. "Go, Millie!" He yelled before he ran back into the burning nursery to save his wife, even though deep down inside he knew that it was too late. "Mary!" He called, the heat and smoke of the fire making it almost impossible for him to breathe. He squinted at the fire, desperately trying to make out the figure of his wife, but the fire seemed to get brighter and brighter. Suddenly, the fire seemed to come alive. John managed to let out a choked "no!" and cover his face with his arms before the flames seemed to shoot right at him and engulf him.

  
  


**... ... ...**

  
  


"Millie, come on!" Dean yelled. Millie began to walk down the stairs before she sat down and slid down them so that she would be faster. She followed her brother outside of the house and stood next to him crying as he looked up to the window where the nursery once was.

"Daddy!" Millie cried as fat tears ran down her chubby cheeks.

"It's okay, Millie," Dean promised for the too manieth time that night. "It's okay, Sammy," he repeated to his brother, wanting him to know that he would protect him too.

John suddenly ran out of the house and scooped up his kids as he ran away from the house. "I gotcha," he promised them while running. Seconds later, the window of Sam's nursery exploded, causing bursts of fire to come out of them. He ran with them to his black 1967 Chevrolet Impala and sat down on the hood of it.

"I called the fire department. They're on their way," a neighbour told him as the sound of sirens in the distance began to fill the otherwise quiet night. John didn't say anything; he was in too much shock to react. He had just seen his wife die some impossible way.

"Daddy," Millie said crying.

"It's okay, Mills. I got you," he promised her and pulled her closer towards him. "I've got all of you," he promised. A couple minutes later, the Lawrence Fire Department showed up followed by an ambulance and a police car.

The firemen were talking while they were trying to extinguish the fire, trying to figure out the best way to control the fire, but John wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying. He was too busy trying to figure out who, no,  _ what _ could have done that to his wife. Curious neighbours had gotten out of their house and were watching in horror as the house burned down.

"Stay back, stand back. Behind the tape," a police officer ordered as he pushed them back.

John was absentmindedly bouncing Sam in his arms while Dean was repeatedly telling his little sister that everything was going to be alright. John bend down to kiss Sammy's head when he suddenly looked up. He looked up with tears in his eyes, knowing exactly what he had to do.

He had to find  _ whatever  _ did that to his wife and kill it.


	2. Stanford University

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean informs Sam that they're dad is missing and Sam agrees to help him and their sister look for him

**Stanford University**

**Present Day**

"Sam! Get a move on, would ya? We were supposed to be there about 15 minutes ago," a blond woman in her early twenties called out as she walked into the room that was originally intended to be their office/study room, but had since become a sort of storage room for all their little knick-knacks, old papers and binders, and anything else they could fill the room with. She was wearing a sexy nurse's costume that she paired with red platform heels. "Sam! You coming or what?" She called impatiently when she didn't hear a reply.

"Do I have to?" Sam asked, poking his head in from the other room.

"Yes," she said laughing as she fixed her long wavy hair. "It'll be fun," she promised him. Sam rolled his eyes and walked into the room. "And where is your costume?" She asked when she saw that he was still wearing the same blue shirt, jeans jacket and jeans he had worn to class.

Sam let out an airy laugh and shook his head. "You know how I feel about Halloween," he told her.

"Come on, Sam. I've already agreed that we'll be there," she told him, trying to convince him to come along.

"I think I'm just gonna go to bed. I'm pretty tired," he told her.

"No way! I promised I would be there with you. Now come on," she told him and grabbed his hand.

Sam laughed. "You're lucky I love you," he told her and pulled her back so that he could press his lips to hers'.

"Lucky me," she replied smiling and deepened the kiss before she pulled away. "Now let's go," she said.

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


The bar was filled with college students of varying levels of drunk. The music they were playing was awful and too loud, but Sam didn't seem to mind too much, especially once he got a couple of drinks into him.

"So here's to Sam and his awesome LSAT victory," the blonde said as she held up her shot. The couple's mutual friend, who was dressed as a zombie, held his glass up to clunk it with hers, while Sam raised his hesitantly.

"Alright, alright. It's not that big a deal," the brunet said embarrassed.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "He acts all humble, but he scored a 175," she told the zombie as their he downed his drink immediately.

"Mh, is that good?" He asked after he slammed his glass on the table.

"Scary good," she laughed as she finally downed her shot.

"So there you go. You are a first round draft pick," he said as he walked behind Sam to sit in the chair on his other side. "You can go to any law school you want," he told him.

Sam looked down at the old table. "Actually, I got an interview here Monday," he told them. "If it goes okay, I think I got a shot at a full ride next year," he said, although he sounded like it wouldn't happen.

"Hey, it's gonna go great," his girlfriend assured him.

"It better," he said with a hopeful smile.

"How does it feel to be the golden boy in your family?" The zombie asked.

Sam quickly looked down. "Ah, they don't know," he said quickly. The blonde pulled her lips into a thin line. She had tried to convince him multiple times to at least talk to his family and tell them, but he refused each time.

"Oh no, I would be gloating!" Their friend laughed as he got up from the chair. Sam shrugged his shoulders. "So why not?" He asked him.

"'Cause we're not exactly the Brady's," he said and threw a peanut at him.

"I'm not exactly the Huxtable's," he replied with a roll of his dark eyes. "More shots?" He asked.

"No," the blonde and Sam said at the same time. "No," Sam said again when their friend ignored them and went to the bar anyway.

"Seriously, I'm proud of you," his girlfriend said when she saw that Sam was about to get up and drag their zombie friend back to the table. "And you're gonna knock them dead on Monday, and you're gonna get that full ride. I know it," she told him smiling.

Sam shook his head and looked at her. "What would I do without you?" He asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Crash and burn," she said with a laugh and reached out to pull his face to hers' so that she could kiss him.

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Later that night, the couple were both sleeping peacefully when a sound of something, or someone, falling woke Sam up. He immediately got up, years of training kicking in, and quietly walked downstairs to the room where he heard the crash.

He hid behind the corner of the hall leading into the kitchen so that he wouldn't be seen. He peeked around the corner and saw that the window was open. For a second Sam thought that he had forgotten to close it or that Jess had opened it some time during the night, but he knew that wasn’t the case. He always made sure that he had closed and locked every window and door, and Jess knew better than to open it after Sam had closed it. The sound of the floorboard creaking pulled him out of his thoughts and let him know that there was someone else in the house

Sam narrowed his eyes as he tried to listen for a sound, when he suddenly saw a shadow and then it's owner walk into the direction of the kitchen. Sam took a deep breath before he walked into the kitchen as quietly as he could so that he wouldn't make too much noise. He hid against the wall so that when the intruder walked into the room, Sam could attack him. After a couple of seconds, the door creaked loudly as it opened and a dark figure entered the room. 

Sam immediately grabbed the person from behind, but the intruder held his arm and turned around to punch him. Sam managed to block his punch and tried to punch the person, but it quickly pushed him away. The intruder ran after him, but Sam kicked him, but the man didn’t let that stop him. He grabbed Sam's leg and pushed him into the living room.

 _'Son of a bitch,'_ Sam thought. His father had made him and his older brother and sister fight and train for hours everyday. By the time he had been nine-years-old he could have easily beaten up a man three times his size, but the uninvited house guest seemed to be a good fighter, too. Perhaps even better than Sam.

While the two continued to fight, Sam was able to see, with the small amount of light coming in through the windows, the intruder’s facial features. There was something familiar about them. While Sam tried to figure out why the man looked so familiar, the intruder used Sam’s distraction to his advantage and quickly punched him two times before he flipped him over and pushed him onto the ground.

"Woah. Easy, tiger," the man said with a light laugh as he held him down.

Sam stared at the man before it finally clicked. "Dean?" He asked confused and out of breath. The man laughed down at his little brother. "You scared the crap out of me!" He told him, still breathing hard.

"That's 'cause you're out of practice," he replied with a smug smile. Sam lifted up his leg and kicked his older brother in the back of his head. At the same time, he flipped him over, so that Dean was the one of the floor, and Sam, having the upper hand, held him down with his leg. "Or not," he said laughing and tapped his brother's leg. "Get off me," he said and grabbed his brother's hand so that he could help him up.

"Dean, what the hell are you doing here?" Sam asked bewildered.

"Well, I _was_ looking for a beer," he replied as he patted his brother to make sure that he was alright. The light suddenly turned on and Sam's girlfriend, wearing nothing but a grey Smurfs crop top and a pair or pink boy shorts with colorful stripes, was standing in the doorway.

"Sam?" She asked, wanting to know what all the commotion was.

Both brother's turned to her. "Jess, hey," Sam greeted her and turned to his brother, who was still staring at the woman. "Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica," he introduced her to his brother.

Jess furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait," she said confused and walked into the room. "Your brother, Dean?" She asked.

Dean smirked at her. "I love the Smurfs," he said, indirectly answering her question, and pointed at her shirt. Jess looked at him unamused "You know, I gotta tell you: you are completely out of my brother's league," he told her and stepped closer towards her.

Jess raised her eyebrows and looked over at her boyfriend, silently asking him if the blond man was serious or not. "Just, let me put something on," she said and began to turn around to walk out of the room.

"No, no, no," he said quickly and he shook his head. "I wouldn't dream of it," he told her. "Seriously," he added as he looked directly into her eyes, hoping to convince her. Jess gave him an _are you serious?_ look. When Dean realised that what he was doing wasn't working, he quickly turned away from her. "Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here and talk to him about some private family business, but, ah, nice meeting you," he said and pointed at her in a way that would probably make any girl start giggling like a little school girl. Jess, however, only gave him a tight lipped smile.

"No," Sam said and walked towards her. "No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her," he told him.

"Okay," Dean said and turned towards the couple. "Um," he said, trying to think of what to say and not say in front of Jess. "Dad hasn't been home in a few days," he said. Jess looked up at Sam worried, but the youngest Winchester didn't seem worried or concerned at all.

"So he's working over time of a 'Miller time' shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later," he said, knowing his father all too well. Dean looked down and burst his lips, contemplating if he should say what he wanted to say. He finally nodded and looked back up.

"Dad's on a hunting trip and he hasn't been home in a few days." Sam froze, realising what that could mean.

"Jess, excuse us," he said.

Jess nodded her head. "I'm gonna go downstairs," she told him and got up on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss. "It was nice meeting you, Dean," she said with a tight smile before she turned around and walked out of the room.

"Oh, my pleasure," he said as he watched her walk out. "Nice ass," he said out loud.

"Dude," Sam said and held out his arms in an _'I'm right here'_ way. Dean held his hands up, signalling that he meant no harm.

"So, let's go," he said and clapped his hands together.

"Dad's been missing before, Dean, and he's always been alright," he pointed out.

"It's never been like this. We have to find him."

"I can't go. I have classes on Monday and an interview," he told him.

"Sam, Dad's missing. We have to find him," he repeated himself.

"And what about Mill?" He asked.

"I already called her. She's on her way," he told him. "Now let's go," he repeated himself and walked out of the room. Sam shook his head and grabbed his green sweater jacket that was laying on the couch and put it on.

"This is ridiculous, Dean," Sam said as he followed his brother out of the living room. "I mean, come on. You can't just break in, in the middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you," Sam said as he and his brother walked down the stairs.

"You're not hearing me, Sammy," Dean said. "Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him," he told him for the hundredth time.

"Do you remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too," he told him. "He's always missing and he's always fine," he added annoyed.

Dean turned around when he got to the bottom of the stairs. "Not for this long," he told him. "Now, are you gonna come with me or not?" He asked him.

"I'm not," Sam said.

Dean looked at him in disbelief. "Why not?!"

"I swore that I was done hunting for good," he reminded him.

"Come on," Dean said and rolled his eyes. "It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad," he told him and turned around.

"Yeah?" Sam asked with a laugh and followed his brother. "When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45," he reminded him.

"Well, what was he supposed to do?" Dean asked.

"I was nine-years-old! He was supposed to say 'don't be afraid of the dark'," he told him.

"'Don't be afraid of the dark'?! Are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid! You know what's out there," he told him as if he had lost his mind.

"Yeah, I know. But still - the way we grew up after Mom was killed, and Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her, but we still haven't found the damn thing," he reminded him. "So we kill everything we can find."

"Save a lot of people doing it, too," he said, causing Sam to scoff.

"What about when Mill got scared after having a nightmare when she was seven?" Sam asked him, but Dean didn't reply. "He told her that the real monsters weren't in her dreams, but outside in the real world and then telling her all about the different monsters and how to kill them," he told him. Dean kept quiet. "You think Mom would have wanted this for us?" He asked him. His brother looked away before he slammed his hand against the door and walked out to get away from his brother, but Sam followed him. "The weapon training and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors," he told him.

"So what are you gonna do?" Dean asked bored, having heard this way too many times growing up. "Are you just gonna live some normal apple pie life? Is that it?" He asked him and turned towards his brother.

"No, not normal - _safe_ ," he corrected him.

"And that's why you ran away," he said and scoffed.

"I was just going to college. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go I should stay gone," he reminded him. "And that's what I'm doing," he told him.

"Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now, if he's not dead already. I can feel it," he told him. Sam didn't reply. "I can't do this alone," he told him.

"You won't be alone. You'll have Mill," he told her. "And besides, you've gone on hunts alone before, even when Dad was missing, so how is this any different?" He asked him.

"I don't want to do this with Mill alone. I need you, too," he told him.

Sam sighed in frustration and shook his head. "What was he hunting?" He asked, regretting the question as soon as it left his mouth. Dean fought a smile as he walked to the trunk of his 1967 Chevrolet Impala that their dad had given him. He opened it and lifted up the bottom of the trunk, revealing rows and piles of various weapons while he informed Sam on everything he knew.

"Alright, let's see... Where the hell did I put that thing?" Dean asked himself as he glanced over all of the weapons.

"So, when Dad left, why didn't you go with him?" Sam asked.

"I was working my own gig - this voodoo thing down in New Orleans," he told him without looking up.

"Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?" Sam asked surprised.

Dean turned his head to look at his brother. "I'm twenty-six, dude," he reminded him and turned his attention back to the trunk. "Alright, here we go," he said when he finally found what he was looking for and pulled out two news articles from a folder. "So Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California," he told him and handed him the article. "About a month ago, this guy - they found his car but he'd vanished. Completely M.I.A.," he told him while Sam skimmed over the article.

"So maybe he was kidnapped?" Sam suggested.

"Yeah, well, here's another one in April, another in December '04, '03, '98, '92 - 10 of them over the past twenty years," he said as he showed him all of the articles. "All men, all same five mile stretch of road," he said and put all of the paper back into the folder. "It started happening more and more, so Dad went to dig around. That was about three weeks ago. I hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough, and then I get this voicemail yesterday," he said and grabbed a recorder and hit play.

"Dean," the muffled voice of John Winchester said. "Something is starting to happen. I think it's serious. I need to try to figure out what's going on," he said before static noises made what he was saying impossible to understand. "Be very careful, Dean. We're all in danger," he said before it stopped.

"You know if there's E.V.P. on that?" Sam asked.

"Not bad, Sammy," Dean praised him. "Kind of like riding a bike, isn't it?" He asked him smiling and hit rewind on the recorder. "Alright. I slowed the message down and ran it through a GoldWave. Took out the hiss and this is what I got," he said and hit play.

"I can never go home," the whispered voice of a woman came through.

"'Never go home'," Sam repeated with furrowed eyebrows. "Does Mill know?" He asked.

"I told her, but I didn't play her the tape. I'll play it to her when we see her," he told him and put the recorder back into the trunk and closed it.

“Where is she?” Sam asked.

“She was hunting some werewolf up in Oregon,” he said.

“Alone?”

“She’s an adult too, Sam. She can handle it,” he told him before he turned his attention back to the issue at hand. "You know, in almost two years I've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing. You're the only person I did that with," he told him. "I've asked Mill for help more times than I can think of in the last six months alone. She even told me that I should just suck it up and talk to you, but I didn't because I knew that you were done, or that you thought so at least," he told him.

Sam sighed heavily before he nodded his head. "Alright, I'll go. I'll help you find him," he said. "But I have to be back first thing Monday," he told him. Dean nodded his head. "Just wait here," he told him and turned around to walk back into the house to tell Jess goodbye.

"What's first thing Monday?" Dean asked.

"I have an interview," Sam replied and turned around.

"What? A job interview? Skip it," he told him.

"It's a law school interview, and it's my whole future on a plate," he told him.

"Law school?" He asked confused.

"So we got a deal or not?" He asked, ignoring his brother's question.

"Yeah," Dean said reluctantly.

"Alright," Sam said and nodded his head. "Let me just say bye to Jess and pack a bag," he said and walked into his house.

"Is everything alright? Where's Dean?" Jess asked and followed her boyfriend up the stairs and into their room.

"I have to go," he told her and pulled out a bag.

"Wait, you're taking off?" She asked as he began to pack. "Is this about your dad? Is he alright?" She asked him worried.

"Yeah. You know, just a little family drama," he told her.

"But your brother said he was on some kind of hunting trip," she said.

"Ah yeah. He's just deer hunting up at the cabin, and he's probably got Jim, Jack and José with him," he told her. Knowing his father, he would never go on a hunt without any kind of alcohol with him. "We're just gonna go bring him back," he told her.

"What about the interview?" She asked.

"I'll make the interview," he assured her. "This is only for a couple of days," he told her and zipped up his bag.

"Sam, please, just stop for a second," she pleaded. "You doing sure you're okay?" She asked him worried.

"Hey, everything's gonna be okay. I promise," he told her and kissed her cheek.

"Is it just gonna be you and Dean?" She asked him.

"No, Mill will be there too," he told her.

"Your sister? When was the last time you talked to her?" She asked him.

"It'll be alright," he promised her and gave her another kiss before he turned around to walk out of the room.

"At least tell me where you're going,"' she asked him, but Sam didn't hear her.

"Ready to go?" Dean asked when his brother walked out.

"I'm ready," he replied as he got into the passenger side and threw his bag in the backseat.

"Then let's go," he said and started the car. AC/DC blasted through the speakers causing Sam to groan.

"Dude, seriously?" He asked.

"Just go with it, Sammy," he said and began to drive.


	3. Jericho, California (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the hunt for their dad, Sam and Dean meet up with Mill to tackle a case

**Jericho, California**

_ A young man was driving along a dark road in an old blue Volkswagen Golf with rock music blaring loudly, disturbing the otherwise silent night. "Amy, I can't come over tonight," he told the woman on the other end of the line. _

_ "Why?" She asked. _

_ "Because I got work in the morning, that's why," he told her. _

_ "It hasn't stopped you in the past," she pointed out. _

_ "Okay, I miss it, my dad's gonna have my ass," he told her laughing, but stopped when something on the side of the road caught his attention. It was a woman dancing, wearing a white dress was dancing and twirling. "Hey, uh, Amy. Let me call you back," he told her and hung up before she could reply. _

_ He stopped the car in front of the woman. It was then that he saw that her long white dress was torn, but the dress still somehow looked bright white. She had long, curly dark hair that made her look deathly pale. _

_ He rolled down the passenger side window and leaned over. "Car trouble or something?" He asked.  _

_ "Take me home," she ordered softly. _

_ "Sure, get in," the dark haired man agreed enthusiastically and opened the passenger door to let the woman in. The woman walked over to the car and slowly got in. It was then that the man noticed that she as barefoot. It wasn’t necessarily cold outside, you could easily walk around with only a thin jacket, but it was definitely too cold to be walking around barefoot. "So, you coming from a Halloween party or something?" He asked her, although he was more or less talking to her cleavage than the woman herself. When no reply came, he laughed embarrassed, realising that he had been caught, and turned his head to look out of the window. _ 'Why else would she be dressed like that?'  _ He chastised himself. The man spoke once more, hoping to rid the car of the awkward silence. "You know... um... a girl like you really shouldn't be alone out here," he told her as he let his eyes wander over her again. _

_ The woman turned to look at him. She slowly pulled her dress up her thigh and moved her legs further apart, a silent invitation to the brunet man, who bit his bottom lip as he began to feel his pants tighten. _

_ "I'm with you," she told him softly. _

_ The boy laughed nervously and quickly looked out of the window again.  _ 'This can't be real,'  _ he thought. The woman reached over and turned his head towards her.  _ 'You have a girlfriend,'  _ he reminded himself as he looked at her breasts again. _

_ "Will you come home with you?" She asked him. _

'Fuck Amy,'  _ he thought and laughed. "Um... hell yeah," he agreed enthusiastically before he took off, going way passed the allowed speed limit. "Where do you live?" He asked her and let his eyes wander over her once more. _

_ "Just drive," she told him, which the man happy did.  _

_ During the ride, the man tried to make small talk with her by asking her what she was doing out there, what her name was, where she was from, but the only reply he ever got from her was for him to keep driving. After fifteen minutes of silence, he pulled into a driveway that led to an old, abandoned house. _

_ "Come on," he said laughing. "You don't live here," _

_ The woman looked at the house sadly, her dark eyes held a haunted look in them. "I can never go home," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. _

_ "What?" He asked confused and looked at her. "What are you talking about? Nobody even lives here," he told her as he looked back to the house to make sure that it really was abandoned. "Where do you live?" He asked once more and turned to look at her again, but she was suddenly gone. The man looked around his car confused. He hadn't heard her get out of the car. He turned his car off and got out. "That was good," he said with a laugh. "Joke's over, okay?" He said and waited for her to come back to him, but he remained alone. "D'you want me to leave?" He asked when he didn't hear a reply from her. Once more, the only thing that followed his question was silence. He looked around the property, to see if he could see her hiding somewhere, but when he saw that he was alone, he began to slowly walk towards the old house, thinking that she must be in there.  _

_ "Hello?" He called as he walked up the old, wooden stairs leading to the porch. Once he was on the old porch, e leaned forward to look into the house through the broken door, not wanting to go near it. The house was so old and looked so fragile, that he didn’t want to risk getting too close to it. Suddenly, a bat came out of nowhere and flew directly at him, but it passed him shortly before it would have crashed into him. _

_ A terrified scream escaped him and he jumped back, falling to the ground in the process. He immediately jumped up and ran back to his old car and got in. He started it and immediately and drove away from the house, the woman completely forgotten. _

_ ' _ What the fuck?!'  _ He thought to himself as he sped away from the house. He looked behind him, expecting to see something running after the car, but there was nothing there. He sighed in relief, but his relief was short lived when he suddenly got the feeling that someone was right behind him. He looked into the rear view mirror once more and screamed when he saw the woman from the road staring at him from the backseat. _

_ He slammed on the breaks, but the breaks weren't working. He screamed again as he ran through a large  _ **_Bridge Closed_ ** _ sign before the car suddenly stopped in the middle of the bridge. Before he could move a single muscle, the woman jumped over the seat and attacked him. The man screamed and tried to fight her off, but she was too strong. _

_ "No!" He screamed before his blood splattered all over the windows and the night was once again silent. _

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


Sam was looking through Dean's cassette tapes at the gas station while Dean went inside to put down money for gas and to pick up some fuel for the road. "Hey, you want breakfast?" Dean asked and held up a pack of mentos, a bottle of soda and a bag of chips.

Sam looked up and looked at the “breakfast” in disgust. "No thanks," he declined, causing Dean to roll his eyes. "Where are we meeting Mill?" He asked.

"At a local motel. She'll be there in an hour," he said as he hung up the gas pump.

"So how'd you pay for that stuff? You and Dad still running credit-card scams?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah, well, hunting ain't exactly a pro-ball career," he told him. "Besides, all we do is apply. It's not our fault they send us the cards," he defended himself.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?" He asked as he continued to look through his brother's cassette tapes.

"Uh... Bert Aframian, his son, Hector, and his daughter, Astrid," he said and got into the car. "Scored three cards out of the deal," he informed him.

"Sounds about right," he said to himself before he brought his attention back to his brother's cassette tape collection. "I swear, man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection," he told him.

"Why?" Dean asked offended.

"Well, for one, they're cassette tapes," he said, as if his brother didn't already know that. "And two, Black Sabbath? Motörhead? Metallica?" He asked as he held up each cassette tape. Dean grabbed the cassette out of Sam's hand. "It's the greatest hits of mullet rock," he told him.

"Well," Dean said as he popped the cassette tape in. "House rules, Sammy: driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cake hole," he told him and started the car. Loveless' "A Gift To The World" began to play loudly.

"You know, 'Sammy' is a chubby 12 year-old. It's Sam, okay?" He told him over the music.

"Sorry, I can't hear you. The music's too loud," he said with a smirk before he drove off. "Who are you calling?" He asked when he saw Sam pull out the phone and began dialing.

"The hospital to see if Dad's there," he said. "Yeah, hi. I was wondering if you have a man that came in with dark hair and dark eyes? He's about 6'2 and weighs about 165 pounds?" He asked.

"I'm sorry there's no man by that description here," she told him.

"Thanks," he said and hung up.

"So-" Dean began, but Sam quickly shushed him.

"Hi, I was wondering if you have a man with dark hair and eyes, about 6'2 and weighs about 165 pounds?" He asked.

"No, sir, no one by that description here," a man answered.

"Thank you," he thanked him and hung up. "Alright, there's no one matching Dad at the hospital or morgue, so that's something, I guess," he said and put his phone away. Dean pulled his lips into a thin line.

_ ‘That’s a good thing,’ _ he told himself. _ ‘That means he’s still alive’ _ , but that thought did little to ease his anxiety.

"Check it out," Dean said when he saw two police cars another car in front of the bridge. "That's Mill's car," he said when he saw her black 1968 Ford Mustang. He pulled over to the side and parked behind it.

"Is that her there?" Sam asked and pointed to a woman with shoulder length light brown hair. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a green jacket and dark brown ankle combat boots.

"That's her," he said and reached over to open the glove department. He pulled out a small wooden box and opened it, revealing several different ID cards and badges. He pulled out two badges and handed one of them to Sam. "Let's go," he said and got out of the car.

  
  


**... ... ...**

"So can you tell me what happened here?" Mill asked one of the police officers.

"Well, we're not exactly sure," the officer answered. Mill raised an eyebrow. "There's no sign of a struggle, no footprints, no fingerprints - spotless. It's almost too clean," he told her.

"Do you know who the victim is?" She asked.

"His name's Troy," he said.

"Isn't he dating your daughter?" The sheriff asked.

"Yeah," the officer replied and looked down.

"How's Amy doing?" He asked.

"She's been putting up missing posters downtown," he answered. Mill opened her mouth to try and get back to the issues at hand, but someone behind her spoke first.

"You had another one like this last month, didn't you?" A familiar voice asked.

Mill turned around and saw her two brothers standing in front of her. She opened her mouth to greet Sam in surprise. Dean had told her that Sam had agreed to come along for this hunt, but she hadn’t fully believed him. After all, the youngest Winchester had abandoned them to run off to college the first chance he got. She stopped herself in time, and instead opted for a formal “agents”, accompanied by a nod. While Mill wasn’t sure who they were posing as, she knew that they were not posing as police officers, which only left very few other choices.

"And who are you?" The sheriff asked.

Dean pulled out his badge and showed it to him. "Federal Marshals," he answered and quickly put the badge back into his back pocket.

"You two are a little young for Marshals, aren't you?" He asked suspiciously.

Dean let out an airy laugh. "Thanks, that's awfully kind of you," he thanked him.

"How do you know each other?" The officer next to Mill asked.

"We've worked on a case before," Mill told him.

"Now why would an FBI Agent and two Marshals be here?" The sheriff asked.

"We go where they tell us to go," Sam said, speaking for the first time.

"You did have another one just like this, correct?" Dean asked once more, wanting to get back to the issue at hand.

"Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There have been others before that," he told him.

"So this victim - you knew him?" Sam asked.

The sheriff nodded his head. "A town like this, everybody knows everybody," he answered.

"Any connection between the victims, besides that they're all men?" Dean asked as he walked around the car of the newest victim.

"No, not so far as we can tell," he answered.

"So what's the theory?" Sam asked.

"There isn't one," Mill answered. "They don't know who or what did it," she explained. The sheriff glared at her, not liking the way she said it.

"It might be a serial murderer or a kidnapping ring," he told him.

"But you don't know," the brunette repeated herself. Sam moved his arm to the side to punch her side without the sheriff noticing. "Ow," she hissed and rubbed her side. "Cramps," she lied when the sheriff raised an eyebrow.

"Well, uh, no. We don't know," he admitted reluctantly.

"Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I'd expect out of you guys," Dean said. Sam stomped on Dean's foot to shut him up.

"Thank you for your time," he thanked the sheriff. "Gentlemen," he said as he walked away. "Er... Agents," he corrected himself when the sheriff gave him a stranger look. Sam walked ahead of his siblings with his lips burst and shaking his head. He had hoped that Dean and Mill would have changed their attitudes towards officers of the law since he had left but it seems as though nothing had changed.

As they were leaving, Dean turned his head to make sure that no one was looking before he slapped his brother in the back of his head. "Ow!" Sam hissed. "What was that for?" He asked him pissed. "Ow!" He hissed again when Mill punched his arms. "What the hell?!" He asked and looked down at her.

"Why'd you have to step on my foot?" Dean asked pissed.

"And why'd you punch me?" Mill asked.

"Why do you two talk to the police like that?" Sam asked. Mill and Dean both looked at their brother as if he had just grown a second head.

"Come on," Dean said and stepped in front of his brother. "They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this," he told him. "If we're gonna find Dad, we've got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves," he added. Sam looked past Dean before clearing his throat and pointing to something with his chin. "What?" Dean asked and turned around to see a police officer and two agents looking at the trio.

"Can I help you?" The officer asked.

"No," Mill answered, before adding a bored “sir” when Sam gave her a look.

"We were just leaving," Dean told him. The two agents gave the trio another glanced before walking past them. "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully," he said with a nod when the two agents walked passed.

_ 'Oh, shit,' _ Mill thought when she saw that the two agents were FBI. "Have a nice day," she said quickly before she walked passed the officer with her two brothers following behind her. "That was close," she said when she got to her car. She checked to see if the officers or agents were still looking at them before she threw her fake FBI badge into her car. "Good to see you again," she greeted Dean. "And Sammy," she said and was about to give him a hug, but then decided against it. "Long time," she said.

"Yeah," he said and coughed. "How’ve you been?" He asked her.

"Killing monsters. The usual," she said shrugging. "Oh, I'm engaged now," she said and held up her left hand to show him a silver ring with a small diamond sitting on her ring finger.

"When did that happen?" Dean asked.

"Last night. Right after you called," she answered.

"And what does-" Sam stopped, waiting for his sister to say his same.

"Seth," she told him.

"Seth think you do?" He asked her.

"He thinks I'm FBI," she told him and went to reach for her badge, when she remembered that she had thrown it in the car.

"Really?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

The brunette shrugged. "It's a good cover. I can still hunt monsters. I just tell him I have a case and I'm out," she told him.

"So you're going to keep hunting?" He asked her surprised.

Mill’s demeanour immediately changed. "It's the family business," she reminded him. An awkward silence fell over the group. Mill cleared her throat before speaking again. "So, are you hunting again?" She asked. 

"No, this is just a one time thing," he told her.

"Right," she answered and pulled her lips into a thin line. She had hoped that he would realise that this is what they do and jump right back in, even if the oldest Winchester had told her that it was just a one time thing. "And let me guess, as soon as we find Dad, you'll leave again?" She asked him, although it wasn’t really a question. She knew the answer.

Sam opened his mouth to tell her off, but Dean quickly cut him off. "When'd you get here?" He asked her, hoping to avoid further arguing between the two siblings.

"Couple minutes before you two showed up," she answered. "I saw the cops on my way up, so I decided to check it out and see what was going on.”

"And?" He asked.

"I don't know anymore than you do," she told him.

"Alright, then how about we head downtown to talk to this Amy?" Sam suggested.

"Let's go then," she said and was about to get into her car when Sam stopped her.

"Aren't you gonna play her the tape?" He asked Dean.

"What tape?" Mill asked.

"Dad called me yesterday, or two days ago, and left me a message," he reminded her and walked to the trunk of the Impala to get his recorder to play it to her.

"E.V.P.?" She asked when the message was done.

Dean nodded his head. "Listen to this," he said and rewound it back to play what the woman had said.

"'I can never go home'," she repeated confused. "Who said that?" She asked.

"We don't know," he told her honestly. "When was the last time you talked to Dad?" He asked.

"He called me a couple days ago, but I couldn't understand a word he was saying," she told him. "Do you think the same thing that said that,” she pointed at the recorder in Dean’s hand, “is the same thing killing all these men?" She asked.

"That's why we're here," he told her and put the recorder back in the trunk.

"Let's find out then," she said and walked over to her car.

"Aren't you gonna drive with us?" Dean asked.

"And leave my baby here? No way!"

"Hey! There's only one Baby and that's her," he said and pointed to his beloved Impala.

Sam rolled his hazel eyes. "Let's go," he said and got into the car.

  
  


**-.-**

  
  


"I'll bet you that's her," Dean said and pointed at a woman who appeared to be in her early 20's hanging up missing persons papers. She had brown curly hair that she had in a messy ponytail, and was wearing a brown jacket with blue jeans, light brown boots, and had a black bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah," Sam agreed nodding.

"Let's do this," Mill said and was about to open her mouth to ask if the woman was Amy, but Dean beat her to it.

"You must be Amy," he said as he approached her.

The woman stopped hanging up posters and turned to the siblings. "Yeah," she answered.

"Troy told us about you," he explained. "We're his uncles and this is his cousin," he lied. "I'm Dean, this is Sammy and this is Millie," he introduced them.

"Mill," the brunette corrected her brother with a side glare.

"He never mentioned any of you to me," Amy said.

"Well, that's Troy, I guess," Dean laughed.

"We used to be really close as kids, but we sort of lost contact after a while," Mill lied.

"And you never tried to make contact with him?" Amy asked suspiciously.

"We're not around much. We're up in Modesto," Dean told her.

"So, we're looking for him, too, and we're kind of asking around," Sam said suddenly. Mill stomped on his foot, signaling that he should just shut up and let Dean handle everything.

"Hey, are you okay?" A woman with straight brown hair and wearing all black asked as she approached Amy.

"Yeah," the brunette replied quickly.

"Do you mind if we ask you a couple questions?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, sure," she agreed.

"What's going on?" The woman standing beside Amy asked.

"We just have a couple of questions for Amy about Troy," Mill explained.

"I thought it was a suicide?" She asked and crossed her arms over her chest and raised a dark eyebrow.

"Standard procedure," she said bored. She hated it when people made things more difficult. Why did they need to ask a billion questions?

"When was the last time you talked to Troy?" Sam asked her.

"How about we talk somewhere else?" Dean suggested when he saw that several people had stopped to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Yeah, okay," Amy agreed.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Her friend asked.

"Can she?" Amy asked hopeful.

"Who ar-”

“Of course,” Sam said quickly, cutting of his sister.

"Let's go in here," Dean suggested and walked into a small diner that was right by the pole where Amy had just been hanging up posters

A waitress with short blonde hair brought them to a table and brought them menus, which they declined. "We'll have a coffee," the blond told her and pointed to him and his younger siblings.

"Just a coke," Amy ordered quietly.

"Make that two," her friend added. The waitress nodded and smiled at them before she went and got their drinks.

"So, when was the last time you talked to Troy?" Sam asked again when the waitress brought them their drinks.

"Last night. I was on the phone with him while he was driving. He said he would call me right back, but he never did," she told them.

"He didn't say anything strange or out of the ordinary?" Sam asked her.

"No, nothing I can remember," she said.

"Did he sound different to you?" Mill asked.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked confused.

"Did he sound like he was scared or in danger?" She clarified.

"No, he sounded normal - happy," she said.

"Here's the deal, ladies - the way Troy disappeared - something's not right. So if you heard anything..." Dean said, but let his sentence trail of when the two women gave each other a look. "What is it?" He asked.

Well, it's just - I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk," Amy's friend said, lowering her voice so that no one besides the Winchesters could hear her.

"What do they talk about?" The siblings all said at the same time.

"It's kind of this local legend," Amy's friend began. "This one girl, she got murdered out on Centennial, like, decades ago."

"Another haunting," Mill said quietly to her brothers.

"Well, supposedly, she's still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up… Well, they disappear forever," she said.

"Do you know her name?" Mill asked.

"No," she answered.

"Do you know where it was?" She continued to ask.

The girl shook her head. "Like I said. It's just a local legend," she explained.

_ 'Great. That means research,'  _ she thought annoyed and downed her cup of coffee.

"Thank you, ladies," Dean thanked them as he got up. "If you can think of anything, don't hesitate to call," he said and handed them cards with his number on them.

"So what now?" Sam asked as they were leaving the diner.

"Research, Sammy," Mill answered as they walked to their cars.

"Great," he said sarcastically.

"Come on, Mr. College Student. You must be used to it," she teased him as she got into her car, but her tone was anything but teasing. "I'll see you at the library," she called and drove off.

"So she’s still like this?" Sam asked as he and Dean got into the Impala.

"Like what?" He asked and started the car.

"This... bitchy?" He asked as he turned down Metallica's "Sad But True".

Dean shrugged. "It’s Mill," he answered, as if it was obvious.

"Yeah, but…” he let his sentence trail off and shook his head. “Have you met her fiancé?" He asked.

"Nope," he answered.

"How much do you think he knows?" He asked.

"He doesn't know anything," the blond replied.

"And you don't see anything wrong with that?" The brunet asked his brother shocked.

"No," he answered with a shrug.

"Dean, she’s marrying that guy. Don't you think he should at least know the truth?" He asked him.

“Mill won’t marry him,” he said with a roll of his green eyes.

“They’re engaged, Dean. The next step is marriage,” Sam informed him as if he didn’t know.

“You and I both know that that’s not always the case,” he pointed out. “And besides, Mill loves hunting too much. The apple pie live - having a two story house with a white picket fence, 2.5 kids and a dog isn’t really her thing,” he told him. “Besides, what should she say? 'Hey honey, remember how I told you that I was an FBI agent? Well, I lied. I hunt monsters. Gotta go kill a werewolf. Bye!'," he asked sarcastically.

"I'm just saying, I don't think it's right for him to not know," he defended himself.

"Jess doesn't know about you," Dean pointed out.

"That's because I don't hunt anymore, Dean," he told him.

“You’re hunting now,” he pointed out.

“This is just a one time deal,” Sam reminded him. Dean gripped the steering wheel tighter and clenched his jaw. 

The rest of the way to the library was spent in silence, and as soon as he parked his car next to his sister's, he got out of the car and slammed it shut.

"Took ya long enough," Mill joked and hopped off the hood of her car and followed her brother into library. "Well, let's do this," she said and sat down in front of an old computer and began to search for local legends that were about a woman in white while Dean searched for murders of a woman on a computer besides him.

"Find anything yet?" Sam asked, sitting between his older siblings

"Nothing helpful," she answered annoyed.

"Here, let me," he said and reached for the keyboard.

"Don't!" She snapped and slapped his hands away.

"I'm just trying to help," he said and reached for the keyboard again.

"I said 'don't'," she repeated herself and slapped his hands away again.

"Fine," he said, holding up his hands in surrender, and turned his attention to Dean. Unfortunately, he had as much success as their sister. "Let me try," he said and reached for the keyboard.

"I got it," Dean said annoyed and slapped his hand away. Sam pushed his brother’s chair away and rolled over to where his brother was just at.

"Dude," he said annoyed as he rolled back to sit between him and his sister. "You're such a control freak," he said and punched his shoulder.

"Can you two stop?" Mill asked annoyed when she still hadn't found anything.

"Tell  _ him  _ that," he said and punched his brother's arm again.

"Stop," Mill hissed at them. Dean sighed in annoyance, but let Sam try his luck.

"So, angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Dean said obviously.

"Then maybe it's not murder," he thought aloud and began to type.

"What then? A suicide?" Mill asked and looked at her younger brother.

"It's worth a shot," he said with a shrug and hit enter. "I found something," he announced when one article popped up. Mill rolled closer to Dean so that she could see the screen better. "This was in 1981. Constance Welch, 24 years-old, jumps of Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river," he read.

"Does it say why?" Dean asked.

Sam skimmed through the article before nodding his head. "Yeah," Sam answered as he skimmed the article. "An hour before they found her, she called 911. Her two little kids were in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren't breathing - both die," he summarised.

"Isn't that just great," the brunette said sarcastically while Sam continued to read the article.

"'Our babies are gone and Constance just couldn't bear it,' said husband, Joseph Welch," he read under a picture of the husband.

"That bridge look familiar to you?" Dean asked and pointed at the picture of a bridge with police officers carrying a body bag that had Constance Welch in it.

"That's where Troy's car was," Mill said. Sam and Dean both nodded their heads.

"Let's go then," Sam said and got up.


	4. Jericho, California (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the siblings continue to look into what they are dealing with, they find new clues as to where their father is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone is staying safe, washing their hands with soap and not touching their face (which may be the hardest thing ever. I had no idea how often I actually touched my face until now). 
> 
> My university has officially transitioned to long distance learning for the rest of this semester, which is great because I'll be saving a lot og money on gas and I'll be able to stay home in my pajamas, watching Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime

"So, this is where Constance took the swan dive," Dean said as he, Sam and Mill walked to where Constance took her life.

"Do you think Dad would have been here?" Sam asked.

"Well, he's chasing the same story, and we're chasing him," Dean answered with a shrug.

"Okay, so now what?" He asked.

"We keep digging ‘til we find him,” he explained. “It might take a while," he added.

"Dean, I told you I've got to her back by-"

"Monday," the siblings all said at the same time, having heard it way too many times already. "Because of the interview," Mill added and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Yeah," Sam answered.

"Because the interview is obviously more important than finding Dad," she snapped.

"It's not like that, Mill," he tried, but she was having none of it.

"Of course not," she snapped.

"You're really serious about this, aren't you? You think you're just gonna become some lawyer, marry your girl?" He asked him. Although he tried to sound calm, anger managed to slip its way into his voice.

"Maybe, why not?" He questioned him with a shrug.

"And Jessica? Does she know about the things you've done?" Dean asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"No, and she's not ever going to know," Sam threatened.

"Well, that's healthy," their brother said sarcastically.

"Oh! And Mill? She's engaged and this Seth guy doesn't even know what she does!" Sam yelled and pointed at his sister.

"Because it's none of his business," she snapped at him, but Sam ignored her.

"We already had this discussion in the car, Dean. Why are you bringing it up again?" He asked his older brother annoyed.

"All I'm saying is that you can pretend all you want, Sammy, but sooner or later you're gonna have to face up to who you really are," Dean said and turned around to walk away from his brother and sister.

"And who is that?" Sam asked as he followed his brother.

"One of us," he said and pointed between him and their sister.

"No, I'm not like either of you. This is not going to be my life," he snapped and walked in front of his two siblings. "This is not going to be my life," he repeated himself.

"It already is," Mill told him.

"I don't care," he snapped at her.

"Well, you have a responsibility," Dean pointed out.

"To Dad and his crusade?" Sam questioned with a laugh. "If it weren't for pictures, I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. What difference would it make? Even if we do find that thing that killed her, Mom's gone, and she's not coming back," he said. A dark looked crossed Dean’s face right before he shoved Sam against the railing of the bridge.

"Dean!" Mill gasped surprised and tried to push him off their little brother. "Dean, let go of him," she demanded. "Now!" She added with a forceful tone when he wouldn’t listen.

Dean didn’t let go, but he did stop pushing Sam against the railing. Mill took that opportunity to get between her brothers, and tried forcing Dean back.

"Don't talk about her like that," he yelled at him before he let him go and turned away from him.

"You’re such an ass!" she hissed at Sam. She loved her brother, both of them, but she never truly forgave Sam after he abandoned them to go college. And hearing him tell both her and Dean repeatedly that this hunt was only a one time thing, and that after it was done he would abandon them once more, did nothing to soothe her anger and betrayal.

"Sam, Mill," Dean suddenly said. The two siblings looked at him and then at what he was looking at and frozen. A woman with long dark curly hair and wearing nothing but a torn up white dress was standing on the railing of the bridge.

"Is that her? Is that Constance?" Mill whispered, even though she already knew the answer. At the sound of her name, the woman turned towards the siblings before she jumped. The siblings immediately ran over to where she had just jumped from and looked over the railing, but nothing was there. "She's gone," the brunette announced.

"Where'd she go?" Dean asked.

"I don't know," Sam answered. Suddenly, the sound of the Impala being started disturbed the quiet night. Bright headlights shone on the trio, blinding them momentarily until their eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.

"What the-?"

"Who's driving your car?" Sam asked Dean.

"Do you think it's Constance?" Mill asked. Dean reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his car keys. "Then how-" Mill never got to finish her question. The car suddenly started speeding towards them.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Dean yelled panicked.

"Come on, Dean, let's go!" Sam said as he and Mill began to run away from the car. "Go!" He yelled when he saw that his brother hadn't moved an inch. When Dean noticed that the car was coming dangerously close to him, he took off after them. The car showed no signs of slowing down, and the three siblings quickly realised that it wouldn’t give up until they were off the bridge.

"Jump!" Mill screamed as she jumped over the railing of the bridge, followed by Sam and Dean. The two younger siblings managed to grab on to a part of the bridge, while the oldest fell into the water.

"Mill, you alright?" Sam asked out of breath as he began to climb up the bridge.

"Yeah," she answered before she pulled herself up. "Where's Dean?" She asked when she realised that their older brother wasn't with them.

Sam looked around wildly before he finally saw him lying on the ground by the river. "Dean!" He yelled panicked, fearing the worst.

"What?" Dean yelled back annoyed as he crawled out of the cold water.

"Are you alright?" He asked him.

"I'm super," he answered sarcastically and held up his hand in an 'okay' sign. Sam laughed and climbed over the railing so that he was back on the bridge.

"You need help?" He asked his sister.

"I got it," she snapped at him as she climbed over the railing. "Thanks, though," she added when she realised how harsh she sounded. Sam gave her a small smile as a reply.

"Baby!" Dean yelled and ran to his car to make sure that she was alright.

"Car alright?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, whatever she did to it, it seems alright now," he said relieved as he closed the hood and leaned against the car. "That Constance chick - what a bitch!" He yelled.

"At least it wasn't my car," Mill thought out loud, earning a glare from Dean.

"Well, she doesn't want us digging around, that's for sure," Sam said.

"That’s obvious," Mill said.

"So, where does the trail go from here, genius?" He asked her.

"We talk to the husband," she answered she shot back.

"Let's do it then," he agreed.

"Now? Shouldn't we wait until morning when he's probably awake?" Dean asked.

"First thing tomorrow then," he agreed and leaned against the Impala next to Dean. "You smell like a toilet," he said after a while.

"Shut up," he snapped at him.

"You need to shower," Mill told him, wrinkling her nose when the smell hit her. Dean looked down at himself before her turned his head to smell his shoulder.

"Ungh," he coughed. "You're not wrong," he admitted and got into his car. "Let's find a motel," he suggested.

"Can I ride with you?" Sam pleaded.

"Definitely," she agreed.

"Really, Sammy?" Dean asked.

"Dude, I'm not sitting anywhere near you," he told him.

"Whatever. I saw a motel a couple miles up the road. I'll see you two there," he said and drove off.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what I said earlier about Mom and Seth," Sam apologised as he and Mill walked to her car.

"I know why you said what you did,” Mill admitted quietly. Sam looked over at her. “Sometimes I don't see the sense of killing the thing that killed Mom, because I know that it won't bring her back, but... I don't know. I just want it dead," she confessed as she got into the car.

"How much do you remember?" He asked.

"About Mom?" She asked as she started the car. Sam nodded. Mill let out a sigh as she thought about it. "Not that much. I have a few short memories here and there. I have a random memory of us at the playground and I think she was pushing me on the swing, and her giving me a sandwich with the crust cut off. And I know she used to sing ‘Hey Jude’ to us, but I think I only remember because Dean used to sing it to us and said that Mom used to sing it to us,” she said, clearing her throat to get the small ball of emotion that was forming out.

She would never admit it, but she sometimes cried over their mom. She didn’t necessarily miss her, but that was because she didn’t have anything to miss, but that realisation made her heart hurt. She  _ wanted  _ to miss her. She  _ wanted  _ to remember their mom the way Dean did, have a connection with her the way he had.

If Mom had never died, they would have never been in this mess; their family would be together again, Dad wouldn’t be missing and wouldn’t have raised them like soldiers, and Dean would’ve been able to have a proper childhood instead of being their mom, their dad, their brother and their protector. They would all be happy.

"Do you remember anything from that night?" He asked as they pulled into the motel parking lot.

"No," she answered quickly and parked the car next to Dean's.

"I think I smell worse," Dean said as he got out of his Baby.

"You do," Mill confirmed, wrinkling her nose..

"Shut up," he snapped and walked into the motel. "Two rooms, please," he requested and put his credit card on the sign-in book.

"We only have one room left," the older man said, trying, and failing, to control his facial expressions at the smell of the oldest Winchester.

"That's okay," Mill quickly, wanting to get a room as possible so that Dean could finally shower and rid himself of the stench. "Do you have an extra bed? Like, a bed you can set up?" She asked the man.

"No," he answered.

"I'll just sleep on the couch then," she said, sounding less than thrilled about that. She was usually the one sleeping on the couch. She didn’t necessarily mind, but she did prefer sleeping on a bed to a couch.

"I guess so," he said and picked up the credit card Dean gave him. "You guys having a reunion or something?"

"What do you mean?" Sam questioned.

"That other guy, Bert Aframian. He came in and bought out a whole room for the whole month," he explained.

"Can we have his room?" Dean asked.

"Are you related to him or something?" The old man asked.

"Yeah, we're his children. I'm Hector Aframian, this is Ernie Aframian," Sam shot a glare at his brother when he told the man his fake name, "and Astrid Aframian," he lied.

"Well, he hasn't been back in a while," the man said.

"That's why we're here," he informed him.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I can't give you his room," the old man apologised.

"Why?" Dean asked annoyed.

"Because it's his room that he paid for," he told him.

"What if I would make it worth your while?" Dean asked as he reached into his jacket pocket.

"De - er - Hector, that sounds really wrong," Mill informed him.

"Sh," he shushed her and pulled out a one hundred dollar bill.

"The answer is still no," the man repeated himself.

"Dammit," Dean said and put his money back. He turned around to walk out, but the old man stopped him.

"Did you still want the room?" He asked and held up his credit card.

"Yeah, we'll take it," Dean replied and signed the sign-in book while he waited for the old man to give him back his card. While he waited, he looked for his dad's alias and, once he found it, looked to see what room number he was staying in. "Thanks," Dean thanked him when the old man handed him a key and his card.

"Really? Ernie?" Sam asked him when they were all outside and walking to their dad's room.

"It was the first name that popped into my head," he said shrugging. "Do you still have your lock kit?" He asked. Sam reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small case. "You do your lock magic while me and Millie keep watch," he told him.

"It's Mill," she corrected him while Sam unlocked the door.

"Got it," Sam announced and opened the door.

"Good job, Ernie," Mill praised him and patted his shoulder.

"Shut up," Sam said and he walked into the room. He looked around, noticing that Dean wasn’t in the room, and spotted him still standing guard with his back to the room. Sam reached out and grabbed his jacket, pulling him into the room before he closed the door.

"Holy," Mill said in awe when she saw their father's room. Books were lying everywhere on the floor and on the small desk, the bed was covered in clean and dirty clothes. A suitcase and other things were also thrown haphazardly on the bed. The walls were covered in newspaper clippings, pictures of missing people and a map that had all the disappearances pinned to it.

Dean walked over to a lamp and turned it on. As he did that, he saw a half eaten hamburger that couldn't have been older than a couple of days. He smelled it, hope blossoming in his chest, but then groaned when he sniffed at it and was met with a horrible stench.

_ 'Definitely older than a couple days,'  _ he thought, although it may have just been his own stench that he was smelling. "I don't think he's been here for a couple of days, at least," he informed his younger siblings.

Sam kneeled down and picked up salt that was a couple of feet in front of the door. "Salt, cat's-eye shells, he was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in," he observed.

"Wait a second," Mill said and walked over to the wall that was covered in newspaper clippings.

"What do you got?" Sam asked and walked over to her.

"These are all the Centennial Highway victims," she said.

Dean wandered over to her. "I don't get it," he murmured, still looking at the missing people.

"Get what?" Mill asked as she continued to look at the people that have gone missing.

"I mean, different men, different jobs, age, ethnicities. There's always a connection, right? So what do these guys have in common?" He asked.

"Wrong place, wrong time?" Mill suggested.

Dean shook his head. "There has to be more - something deeper," her said.

"Dad figured it out," Sam announced. Mill and Dean turned to their brother, who was staring at a wall covered in different papers.

"Figured what out?" Mill asked confused and walked over to him.

"He found the same article as we did," he said and pointed at it. "Constance Welch. She's a woman in white," he told them.

Dean turned back to the missing poster signs. "You sly dogs," he said before he turned back to his brother. "Alright, so, if we're dealing with a woman in white, Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it," he told them.

"She might have another weakness," Sam suggested.

"No, Dad would want to make sure. He'd dig her up," he told him and walked over to his brother and sister. "Does it say where she's buried?" He asked.

"No, not that I can tell," he said. "If I were Dad, though, I'd go ask her husband... If he's still alive.”

"Alright, why don't you see if you can find an address? I'm gonna get cleaned up," he suggested and turned to walk into the bathroom.

"Hey, Dean," Sam called after him. Dean stopped and turned towards his brother. "What I said earlier about Mom and Dad - I'm sorry," he apologised.

Dean held up his hand to stop his brother from talking. "No chick-flick moments," he said.

"Alright, jerk," he said.

"Bitch," Dean shot back before he walked into the bathroom. Sam laughed and shook his head. It felt like the old days again. He suddenly stopped laughing and walked over to the wall of missing posters.

"What?" Mill asked and followed him.

"Look," he said and picked up a picture that was on the mirror.

It was a picture of John with Mill, Sam and Dean. It must have been when Sam was four or five, which made Mill around six or seven and Dean around eight or nine. It was a picture of happier days, when hunting hadn't quite consumed John's life yet. In the picture, John and Dean were both sitting on the Impala next to each other. Mill was kneeling behind her father and brother and had an arm wrapped around both of them, while Sam was sitting on his father's lap with his father's arms wrapped around him.

"I remember that," Mill said, a small smile on her face. "Dad had dropped us off at Uncle Bobby's to hunt a werewolf, I think. He came back earlier than expected and we all ran out to greet him. Dad asked Uncle Bobby to take a picture so that he could remember that moment," she remembered.

Sam smiled as he began to remember the memory himself. "That was one of the view times I saw him happy," he said before his smile disappeared. He was about to open his mouth to say something, but his phone beeped. "I have a voicemail," he said, sounding confused. "I didn't even hear it ring," he murmured to himself as he hit play and held it up to his ear so that he could listen.

"Hey, it's me," Jess said. "It's about 10:20 on a Friday night-"

"Hey, Man. I'm starving," Dean said as he walked back into the room, freshly showered and smelling fresh. "I'm gonna grab a little something to eat at that diner that was down the street. You want anything?" He asked his brother.

"No," he replied while he continued to listen to his girlfriend's voicemail.

"Aframian's buying," he informed him.

"Mnh-mnh," he hummed, shaking his head.

"Millie?" He asked.

"Mill," she corrected him with an annoyed sigh. "Just bring me back a cheeseburger with fries," she told him and put the picture back on the mirror.

"I'll be back in twenty," he told them and left the room. He was walking to his car when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw a police car with two police officers talking to the owner of the motel.

"Oh crap," he muttered under his breath when the owner pointed at him. Dean quickly turned around and pulled out his phone to call his sister, but she didn't answer. _ 'Dammit, Mill!' _ He thought and quickly dialed his brother's number.

  
  
  
  


**... ... ...**

  
  
  
  


Sam was finishing up Jess' voicemail, when his phone beeped twice, signaling that he had an incoming call. "What?" He answered when he saw that it was his brother.

"Dude, five-o. Take off," he said quickly.

"What about you?" He asked and got up.

"Seth, I'm gonna call you back," Mill said into her phone. "Everything's alright. I'll call you later," she assured him, a twinge of annoyance in her voice, and hung up.

"Uh, they kind of spotted me. Go find Dad," he said hurriedly before he hung up.

"What happened?" Mill asked when Sam put his phone back in his pocket.

"Cops are here," he informed.

"What about Dean?" She asked.

"They spotted him," he told her as he pulled back the curtain so that he and Mill could see what was going on.

  
  
  
  


**... ...** **...**

  
  
  
  


"Problem, officers?" Dean asked as they were walking towards him.

"Where's your partner?" One of the officers asked.

"Partner? What - what partner?" He asked them and smiled at them, hoping that charming them will get him out of the pickle he was in, but the officer was having none of it. He looked at his partner and pointed to the room Dean had just walked out of. The other officer nodded his head and began to walk towards it. _ 'Crap,'  _ he thought, looking worried, but he quickly controlled his facial expressions.

"We gotta go," Mill ordered and ran to the bathroom so they could climb out the window.

"I can’t find the spare keys," he told her, panic leaking into his voice.

"Leave them. I still have mine," she said and showed him her keys before she opened the window to climb out. Sam had a little more difficulty getting out, but he eventually did, and just in time before the officer entered the room.

"Let's go," he said and ran to Mill's car. They both got in as quietly as possible and sat low so that they could still hear and see Dean talk to the officer without being spotted.

"So, fake U.S. Marshal, fake credit cards. You got anything that's real?" The officer asked.

"My Boobs," Dean said cheekily with a nod before he smiled at the officer. The officer grabbed Dean and began to drag him to the police car.

"The place is clean," the other officer informed his partner as he walked back to the car.

"Arrest him," the officer ordered. The second officer wasted no time slamming Dean onto the hood and putting handcuffs on him. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law," he informed him while putting handcuffs on him. He threw Dean into the backseat before the two officers got into the car and drove off.

"This is just great," Mill said sarcastically. "So what now?" She asked him as she started her car.

"We have to talk to Joseph Welch," he answered her.

"What about Dean?" She asked.

"Do you really think Dean would be too happy with us if we got him out now without any lead on the case?" He asked her with a raised brow.

"Yeah, okay. What's the address?" She asked.

  
  
  
  


**-.-**

  
  
  
  


"So, you want to give us your real name?" The sheriff asked when he walked into the interrogation room with a box in his hand

"I told you. It's Nugent, Ted Nugent," Dean lied.

"I'm not sure you realise just how much trouble you're in here," he warned him.

"We talking, like, misdemeanor kind of trouble or 'squeal like a pig' trouble?" He asked, trying to be funny.

"You got the faces of 10 missing persons taped to your wall," he told him, causing Dean roll his eyes. He knew where this was going. "Along with a whole lot of Satanic mumbo jumbo," he continued. "Boy, you are officially a suspect," he told him.

"That makes sense, 'cause when the first one went missing in '82, I was three," he told him bored.

"I know you got partners. One of them's an older guy, maybe he started the whole thing," he theorised as he reached into the box. Dean shrugged his shoulders and leaned back against the chair.

_ ‘May as well get comfortable,’  _ he thought.

  
"So tell me, Dean..." He began. Dean looked up. He didn't want to look surprised, but he wanted to know how he knew his real name. "Is this his?" He asked and threw a journal in front of him. The blond man’s face fell as he stared at the brown leather journal. "I thought that might be your name," he said as he opened the journal and began to turn its pages. "You see, I leafed through this, what little I could make out. I mean, it's nine kinds of crazy, but I found this too," he said and turned to another page, pointing at a circled message that read

  
  


**Dean 35-111**

  
  


"Now, you're staying right here till you tell me exactly what the Hell that means," he said and pointed to the message again.

  
  
  
  


**-.-**

  
  
  
  


"This is the house?" Mill asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's what I found," Sam answered as he walked to the old front door and knocked. An older looking man wearing a brown baseball bat, a yellow stained wife beater, a brown colored flannel and a pair of grey pants that had paint splattered all over them opened the door. "Hi, uh, are you Joseph Welch?" Sam asked him.

"Yeah," he answered with a nod.

"My name's Sam and this is Mill," he introduced himself and his sister. "Could we ask you a few questions?" He asked.

The man looked at him and then to Mill before he nodded. "Sure," he agreed and stepped out of the house.

"Could you tell me if you've seen this man?" He asked him and pulled out the picture he had snatched from the mote.

"Yeah,” he confirmed. “He was older looking, but that's him," he said nodding and handed the picture back to Sam. "He came by three or four days ago, said he was a reporter," he told him. "Are you two reporters, too?" He asked.

"Sure," Mill said, not wanting to waste more time than they already had.

"We're working on a story together," Sam lied hurriedly.

"Well, I don't know what the Hell kind of story you're working on," he said.

"What do you mean?" Mill asked confused.

"The questions he asked me," he started her, his brows creasing.

"About your late wife, Constance?" Sam guessed.

Mr. Welch nodded and stopped walking. "He asked me where she was buried," he said in disbelief.

"And where is that again?" Sam asked.

"What, I got to go through these twice?" He asked as he started walking again.

"It's fact checking, if you don't mind," he told him.

He took a deep breath before he answered. "In a plot behind my old place over on Breckenridge," he answered.

"Why there?" Mill asked.

"We used to live there," he explained.

"Why did you move?" Sam questioned.

"I'm not gonna live in the house where my children died," he told him, anger and sadness creeping into his voice.

"Mr. Welch, did you ever marry again?" He asked.

He shook his head. "No way. Constance - she was the love of my life... prettiest woman I ever known," he told him.

"So, you had a happy marriage?" Sam asked.

"Definitely," he answered after a short pause.

"You sure about that?" Mill asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course I'm sure," he snapped at her. "Of course he had our ups and downs, but we were happy!"

"Well, that should do it," Sam concluded. "Thanks for your time," he thanked him and turned around to walk back to Mill's car, but then stopped.

"What?" Mill asked him.

"I have to know," he muttered.

"Know what?" Mill asked confused, but Sam ignored her.

"Mr. Welch, you ever hear of a woman in white?" He asked him and turned towards him.

“Sam,” Mill warned him. The rules of hunting were simple: don’t die, get the job done, and don’t tell anyone about the supernatural.

Mr. Welch turned around and looked at him confused. "A what?"

"A woman in white, or sometimes a weeping woman. It's a ghost story, well, it's more of a phenomenon, really," he began, walking towards him. "They're spirits. They've been sighted for hundreds of years, dozens of places in Hawaii and Mexico. Lately in Arizona, Indiana. All these are different women, you understand, but all share the same story.” He stopped talking when he was directly in front of the older man.

"Which is?" He questioned.

"Infidelity," Mill answered and stood next to her brother.

"I don't care much for nonsense," Mr. Welch told then dismissively and turned around to walk away.

"You see, when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them, and these women, basically suffering temporary insanity, murdered their children," Sam continued. Mr. Welch turned around to face Sam. "Then once they realised what they had done, they took their own lives. So now, their spirits are cursed - walking backroads, waterways, and if they find an unfaithful man, they kill him, and that man is never seen again," he finished.

"You think..." Mr. Welch began, but then stopped to control his quivering lip. "You think that has something to do with Constance, you smartass?" He spat at him and tried to get in Sam's face, but the youngest Winchester had a significant height advantage.

"You tell me," Sam said at the same time as Mill said "yes".

"I mean, maybe... maybe I made some mistakes, but no matter what I did, Constance never would have killed her own children," he promised them, barely containing his anger. "Now you two get the Hell out of here, and you don't come back," he demanded and turned around to walk back into the house.

"Now what?" Mill asked.

"Now we get Dean out," he answered. "Drive me back to the motel."

"Why?" 

"I'll look for the spare keys to the Impala and then you drive to the police station and wait for Dean," he told her.

"Okay, I still don't know what your plan is," she said.

"Don't worry, it's easy," he assured her and began to tell her his plan.

  
  
  
  


**-.-**

  
  
  
  


"For the last time, what does it mean?" The officer asked for the hundredth time. He was starting to get really annoyed with Dean.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you. It's my high school locker combo," he lied for the hundredth time.

The officer sighed in frustration. "Are we gonna have to do this all night long?" He asked at the same time as male officer opened the door to the interrogation room and peeked his head in. "What?" He asked annoyed.

"We just got a 911. Shots fired over at Whiteford Road," the officer informed him before he left.

"Do you have to go to the bathroom?" The interrogating officer Dean asked.

"No?" Dean answered confused.

"Good," the officer responded and reached behind him to grab a pair of handcuffs from his belt. He put one handcuff around Dean’s wrist and attached the other to the table before he walked out of the room and locked it behind him.

_ 'Just great,' _ Dean thought and began to look around to see if he could find anything that could get him out of the handcuffs but found nothing.  _ 'Of course not, _ ' he thought and looked down at his Dad's journal. _ 'Bingo,' _ he thought when he saw a paperclip.

He grabbed the paper clip and straightened it out before he undid the handcuff around his wrist. He then grabbed his Dad's journal and walked to the door. He peeked out the window to see if any officers were still there, and quickly hid out of sight when one officer passed by. He waited for several seconds before he looked again. When no one was there, he unlocked the door with the paper clip and snuck out of the interrogation room and out of the police station.

"Took you long enough," Mill teased him when he walked out of the station.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her confused.

"I'm here to rescue you, of course," she said, making Dean roll her eyes. "Sammy put out a fake 911 call and thought that you should have a driver when you got out," she explained.

"Pretty dangerous," he laughed and began to walk with his sister to her car. "Where's he now? Gimme your phone," he asked.

"We talked to Joseph Welsh today," she informed him as she handed him her phone.

"It's dead," he told her.

"Really? Crap. I thought I charged it," she mumbled to herself as Dean handed her her cell phone back.

"There's a phone booth right there. You got any quarters?" He asked. Mill reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out two quarters. Dean jogged over to the phone booth and began to dial Sam's number. He held the phone up so that both he and Mill could both talk to Sam. "Fake 911 phone call, Sammy? I don't know, that's pretty illegal," he grinned when his brother picked up.

"You're welcome," he replied with a laugh.

"Listen, we gotta talk," he said.

"Tell me about it. The husband was unfaithful, so we are dealing with a woman in white, and she's buried behind her old house, so that should have been Dad's next sto-"

"Sammy, would you shut up for a second?" Dean cut him off.

"I can't figure out why he hasn't destroyed the corpse yet," he went on.

"Well, that's what I'm trying to tell you," Dean said impatiently. "He's gone.".

"Who?" Mill asked.

"Gone?" Sam questioned.

"Dad left Jericho," Dean elaborated.

"What?" Sam and Mill asked simultaneously. "How do you know?" Sam asked.

"I've got his journal," he answered.

"What?" Mill gasped, but Dean shushed her.

"He doesn't go anywhere without that thing," Sam told him, as if he didn’t know.

"Yeah, well, he did this time," he said.

"What's it say?" He asked.

"Same old ex-marine crap when he wants to let us know where he's going," he answered.

"Coordinates. Where to?" Sam asked.

"I'm not sure yet.”

"Dean, what the Hell is going on?" He asked right before he slammed on the breaks. "Woah!" He gasped.

"Sam? Sam!" Dean yelled.

"What's wrong?" Mill asked.

"I don't know. Sam!" He yelled again, but still no answer. "Where was he going to?" Dean asked his sister.

"Over on Breckenridge behind the old place. That's where Constance is buried," she quickly explained.

"Let's go!" He said and hung up the phone.

  
  
  
  


**-.-**

  
  
  
  


Sam stared wide eyed at the rear view mirror. In it was the reflection of none other than Constance herself.

"Take me home," Constance ordered from the backseat of the Impala. Sam didn't reply. He just continued to stare at her through the rearview mirror. "Take. Me. Home," she repeated herself, more sternly this time.

"No," Sam answered. Constance glared at him before the car suddenly locked. Sam tried to unlock it by pulling up the door lock, but he couldn't pull it up. He tried the passenger door, but he didn't have any more success.

Suddenly, the car shifted into drive and the car excelled forward. Sam continued to try and unlock the door while Constance controlled the car.  _ 'Oh no,'  _ he thought when the car turned into a driveway leading towards her old house. The car shifted into park before it turned off. "Don't do this," Sam pleaded and once more looked at her through the rearview mirror, but she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at her old house with longing and sadness.

"I can never go home," she whispered heartbroken.

"You're scared to go home," Sam realised and turned around in his seat so that he was facing her, but she had disappeared.

He heard the car unlock and quickly turned to open the door, when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned his head and saw Constance sitting next to him. Before Sam could process what was happening, she moved with inhuman speed to straddle him. The brunet man groaned and tried to fight her off, but she was too strong.

"Hold me," she pleaded seductively. "I'm so cold," she whispered.

"You can't kill me. I'm not unfaithful. I've never been," he told her before he let out a quiet yell as she pulled his head towards her face.

"You will be," she promised in a whisper into his ear before she kissed him on the lips, but Sam didn't kiss her back. He tried to reach for the keys so that he could start the car, but Constance suddenly sat up.

Her beautiful pale face suddenly transformed itself. Her smooth pale skin was replaced by dry and wrinkled skin. Her eyes has turned from dark brown to light grey. Her full, pink lips had disappeared completely. In their place were grey gums and brilliant white teeth, which seemed to make her grey skin look even more ill. Her shiny dark locks now looked wild and uncared for. As soon as Sam was able to process what he saw, Constance had disappeared once more. Sam looked around to see where she was, but she was nowhere to be found.

Sam suddenly yelled out in pain when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. It felt like someone was digging their fingers into his chest to try and dig out his rapidly beating heart. He reached for the zipper of his brown jacket and pulled it down to reveal five bloody holes that went through his blue t-shirt and into his chest. Constance suddenly appeared, straddling the screaming man while she dug her fingers into his chest. With each passing second, her fingers dug deeper and deeper into his chest.

He continued to scream out in pain until he heard gunshots. He turned his head and saw Dean firing shots at the ghost. As soon as she disappeared, he lowered his gun, but just as fast as she had disappeared, she came back. Dean tried to fire his gun, but he was out of bullets. Mill quickly took his place began to shoot at the ghost that was trying to kill her brother. When she disappeared again, Sam immediately sat up and started the car, knowing that she could appear any second.

"I'm taking you home," he told her and drove the car through the fence and through the furniture that was in front of the house.

"Sam!" Mill and Dean yelled at the same time right before he crashed into the house. Sam continued to drive until he was in the middle of the living room. "Sammy!" Mill yelled and ran towards the house.

"Sam!" Dean yelled and chased after her.

"Here," Sam announced from inside the car.

"You okay?" Dean asked as Mill tried to get to him through the driver's side, but there wasn't enough room for her to fit.

"I think," he replied and groaned. While Constance was no longer digging her fingers into his chest, it still hurt and throbbed with each beat of his racing heart.

"Can you move?" Dean asked him.

"Yeah, help me," he asked and reached his arm towards his brother. Dean tried to grab it, but there was too much wood around the car. "Millie, help me," he ordered and began to move the piles of wood away from the car. The brunette wasted no time and began to grab as much wood as she could and threw it behind her while Dean reached for Sam and pulled him out of the car. "There you go," he said as he helped him stand up.

Sam quickly grabbed Mill and pulled her against the car when he saw Constance standing by the stairs with a picture frame in her hands. She looked up at the Winchesters and just stared at them with pure anger and hate.

She discarded the picture and moved to the side just in time for the chest to slide across the floor and trap the siblings against the car with it. All three of them groaned in unison when the chest hit them. They tried to push it away, but the force holding it against them was too strong. Constance began to walk towards, but then stopped when the electricity suddenly turned on in the old house. She looked around confused to see who or what was doing that.

"Sam, Dean," Mill said and pointed to the stairs that suddenly had water running down them. Constance turned around to see what Mill was referring to and froze when she saw two young children, a boy and a girl, standing at the top of the stairs. "Are those...?" Mill asked, letting her sentence trail off.

"Her children," Sam finished. Constance walked towards the bottom of the staircase, looking up at her children.

"You've come home to us, Mommy," the two children sang in unison and grabbed each other's hands.

"That's creepy," Mill said quietly. Constance turned around to look at the Winchesters for help, but her son and daughter suddenly appeared in front of her. She screamed out when they wrapped their arms around her.

"No!" She screamed as she began to melt. "No!" She screamed, louder and more desperate. Her face changed rapidly from her true form to how she looked before she became the woman in white. Bright blue lights suddenly seemed to explode from her right before her and her children seemed to sink into the floor, leaving nothing behind but a puddle of water that was quickly disappearing. As soon as the puddle disappeared, the force that was keeping the chest pressed against the siblings disappeared. The three wasted no time in pushing the chest away, and sighed in relief when they were finally free and could breathe properly. They walked over to where Constance had just disappeared into the floor with her children, and saw that the only proof that she had been there was a wet carpet.

"So this is where she drowned her kids," Dean said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Mill said nodding.

"That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them," Sam realised.

"You found her weak spot," Dean praised. "Nice work, Sammy," he said and smacked him on the chest.

"Ah-ha!" He yelled before he laughed in pain.

"Yeah, I wish I could say the same for you two," he said and turned towards his sister and brother. "What were you two thinking? Shooting Casper right in the face?" He asked them.

"We didn't have any weapons," Dean explained.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"I forgot my bag with all the ammo at the motel," Mill explained.

"So you decided to shoot her in the face?!" Sam asked them in disbelief.

"Hey, we saved your ass," Dean defended himself and turned towards his brother to point at him before he turned back to his baby. "I'll tell you another thing," he began and looked closely at his car. "If you screwed up my car, I'll kill you," he promised.

"So what now?" Mill asked.

"Well, Sam better pray to God that Baby is okay," he said. "And then we have to figure out where Dad's sending us," he answered as got into his car and backed out of the house.

"You okay, Sammy?" Mill asked and turned towards her younger brother.

"I'm fine, no worries," he assured her.

"Sam! I'm gonna kill you!" Dean yelled.

"Uh-oh," Mill sang and walked out of the house and towards an angry Dean with Sam next to her.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Look at this!" He yelled and pointed to one of the headlights that was broken.

Sam rolled his eyes. "It's nothing you can't fix," he told him.

"You better hope I can fix it," he muttered quietly.

"So where to now?" Mill asked.

"Well, we have to find out where Dad's sending us," Dean said. "Millie, you coming with us?" He asked.

"It's still Mill, douche," she corrected him for the millionth time.

"Just answer the question, brat," he replied.

"Of course I am," she answered.

"Okay, then let's go," he said and got into his car.

"I'm not leaving my baby here! Are you crazy?" Mill asked him shocked.

"What are you gonna do then?" Dean asked and leaned his head out of the window.

"I'll follow you," she told him.

"And how are you gonna know what we're talking about?" Sam asked.

"I'll call and you'll just put me on speaker," she suggested.

"Sounds good to me," he agreed and pulled his head back into the car.

"But we have to go back to the motel first to get my bag," she told them.

"Then let's go," he said and honked his horn impatiently. Mill and Sam both rolled their eyes, but did as Dean asked.

  
  
  
  


**-.-**

  
  
  
  


"Okay, here's where Dad went," he said and pointed to the location a map that was on his lap.

"I'm not in the car, Sam. I can't see it," Mill reminded through the speaker on the phone.

"It's a place called Blackbottle Ridge. It's in Colorado," he told her.

"Sounds charming. How far?" Dean asked.

"About 600 miles," Sam said.

"If we shag ass, we can make it by morning," Dean said.

"Sounds good. Let's do it!" Mill agreed enthusiastically.

"Dean, I, um..." Sam began.

"You're not going," Dean said. It wasn’t a question.

"The interview's in, like, ten hours. I got to be there," he told him.

"Sam, we have to find Dad," Mill told him.

"You and Dean can do it together," he told her and looked over at his brother.

"Yeah. Yeah, whatever," he said dismissively.

"Dean-" Sam begun, but his brother cut him off.

"I'll take you home and Millie and I will take care of it ourselves," he said.

"It's still Mill, Dean," she reminded him annoyed.

"You coming with us, Mill?" Dean asked.

"To?" She asked.

"Drop Sam off."

"Sure," she agreed.

"And then we'll just look for Dad ourselves," he said and looked over at Sam.

"Dean-" he began again, but he was cut off again.

"I know. It's your whole life. Heard it all before," he dismissed him.

"I have to go back to Seattle before we leave. I need a couple supplies," she told him.

"I'll come with you. Gets me the chance to finally meet the dude," he said before he hung up.

Mill followed her brothers until the Impala stopped in front of a house. Sam got out of the car and shut the door. "You'll call me if you find him?" He asked Dean and Mill when she got out of the car and walked over to him.

"Yeah," Mill assured nodding.

"Maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?" He offered.

"Yeah, alright," Dean shrugged dismissively and started his car, but he didn’t drive off. Sam pressed his lips together into a thin line before he tapped the car and turned towards his sister.

"It was good seeing you again," he said and hesitated before he gave her a hug.

"You too," she agreed and pulled away. "Good luck at the interview, I guess," she offered.

"Yeah, thanks," he thanked her with an awkward laugh. "I'll see ya around, I guess," he said before he looked back at Dean before he walked into his house.

"Sam," Dean called. Sam turned around. "You know, we made a Hell of a team back there," he said.

"Yeah," Sam agreed and nodded his head. Dean nodded his head as well before he shifted his car into drive and drove away.

"Bye, Sammy," Mill said before she walked to the car.

"Bye, Millie," he replied and walked into his house. He could practically feel the glare his sister shot at him. "Jess?" He called as he walked through the front door. "You home?" He asked when he didn't hear a reply.

Silence.

He made a quick stop in the kitchen and smiled when he saw that she had made cookies. He grabbed one and ate it while he walked towards their bedroom. He peeked in and saw that she wasn't there either. He was disappointed, but then he heard the shower running and the bathroom light on.

He put his bag down by the door and walked over to his bed and let himself fall on in with a content sigh. He closed his eyes, feeling absolutely exhausted and drained. He had forgotten how tiring hunts were. He was almost asleep, when he suddenly felt something drip on his forehead.

He opened his eyes and gasped when he saw Jess pinned to the ceiling by an invisible force. She had been cut across her stomach, her red blood staining the front of her nightdress and dripping onto him. "No!" He screamed as he scrambled off the bed to try and get up and pull her down from the ceiling, but just as he had stood him, Jess suddenly burst into flames. "Jess!" He screamed and fell back on the bed.

"Sam!" He heard Mill and Dean yell from downstairs after the heard someone kick in his door.

"Jess!" He screamed as she began to burn. He couldn’t move; frozen in shock.

"Sam! Sam!" Dean said as he ran to the bedroom and saw his brother lying on the bed while the whole room began to catch on fire. He was covering his face with his arms to try and protect himself from the extreme heat.

"Sam, come on!" Mill yelled as she ran into the room and tried to get him up from the bed, but he remained frozen in shock.

"No! No!" He continued to yell.

"Sam, we have to go!" She yelled at him, but Sam wouldn't move.

"Come on!" Dean yelled as he ran into the room and physically pulled Sam off of the bed.

"Jess! Jess! No!" He yelled as he fought against his siblings, trying to run back into the room, but Dean and Mill both dragged him out of the house just in time before the bedroom exploded.

"It's too late, Sam," Dean said as he dragged him to the Impala and waited there until the police and the fire department showed up. Sam stared at the ground while he waited for the police to finish up questioning his two older siblings. When the police questioned him, he gave them short answers. He was in too much of a shock to speak.

When the police officer finished questioning him, she suggested that he go have the EMT's check her out, but he refused. Instead, he immediately went to the trunk of the Impala and opened it. He began to look at the various guns and picked each one up to make sure that it was working. Mill and Dean watched him as he inspected each and every weapon.

"We got work to do," he told them to Mill and Dean as he threw a rifle back into the trunk before he closed it.


End file.
